2011 British GP qualifying analysis

Red Bull were half a second faster than their rivals on average in qualifying before the weekend.

But following the changes to the diffuser rules in Silverstone they found their margin cut to a tenth of a second over Ferrari.

Here’s all the data from qualifying for the British Grand Prix.

Qualifying times in full

Red Bull’s margin over their rivals in qualifying was 0.117 seconds. It’s only been lower than that once this year, in Malaysia (0.104s). Until this weekend they had enjoyed an average superiority of 0.517s.

Lewis Hamilton slumped to tenth on the grid. He started Q3 using a set of soft tyres he’d run briefly in Q1. But that will probably not even account for half of his yawning two second deficit to Mark Webber.

Adrian Sutil missed out on a place in the final ten by just three hundredths of a second.

Renault had their worst qualifying performance of the year with 14th and 16th on the grid. James Allison said the changes to the diffuser rules only partly explained the change: “The alterations to the engine rules have clearly upset the order somewhat, but that?óÔé¼Ôäós not where all our focus lies. The fact is that for the past three or four races we have been on a trend that is far from impressive and, at this event, we have been showing far less performance than we should be.”

28 comments on Red Bull’s advantage cut in Silverstone qualifying

Trouble with all this with the rules mess is that I can see lots of teams asking for the points for the British Grand Prix this year not to count in the drivers or constructors championships, especially if the rules are going to go back to the way they were before, in a way I think it would be the sensible thing to do.

The top 8 really impressed me today. JB, not so much I’ll admit but he has a lousy record here and at least he outqualified Lewis. Massa was still well off Fernando but he didn’t make the most of q3 and had looked a lot more on it before then so I’m stilly happyish with him. It was great to see Mark have something to smile about!

I’m not really surprised Red Bull still seem so quick but now Mark’s turned up hopefully he can take some points from Seb. I think Mark’s finally getting to grips with the tyres (no pun intended) too regardless of this rule change as Newey commented at Valencia.

Renault have certainly been dicing with different ends of the spectrum this season huh? From getting 2 podiums to fighting with with non-points scorers, I was expecting them to have a steady development rate but they’ve stood still which has inevitably made them fall backwards. It’s not like they can really blame the rule changes either since the past few races have yielded low points or less.

Although I think the lack of consistency may have something to with Heidfeld and Petrov. Poor quali performances have forced them to make up positions which is putting them at a serious disadvantage straight away.

I’m still amazed that Schumacher was 4 tenths off 5th yet still ended up 13th. No doubt it was a wrong place wrong time situation in terms of tyres but I’m quite excited for some potential close racing tomorrow. Especially since the Red Bull’s seem to have lost ground on Ferrari.

Is it just me or is the new Silverstone:
(1) a souless mess of wide expanses of tarmac?
(2) almost impossible to work out where the cars are?
(3) the most fan-hostile pit straight in the world?
(4) the track with the ‘impossible to see’ pits?
(5) a great venue wrecked?

I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to the pit straight being between Club and Abbey, but tomorrow shall prove interesting seeing the cars bullet through the kinks and up to the tight Turn 3.

It’s the same Silverstone that we’ve had for years with the exception of the Bridge section (Although the straight isn’t a bad replacement). So as for your points:

1) – Disagree
2) – Some may find it different but I can always tell which part of the track a car is on.
3) – How is it fan hostile?
4) – The low stand doesn’t aid the fans at all but the extra build developments should take car of that.
5) – Absolutely not, Silverstone will always be up there with the likes of Spa, Monaco and Montreal as a fantastic venue and I don’t think it will ever change.

Overall RBR have more of an advantage (or at least the same), look at the gaps to other teams.
The only exception is Alonso in this particular race (where they have good upgrades anyway). Hamilton was as close in Malaysian(0.1s) but again that was a one off. There is no strong evidence that the gap is smaller.
I hope Alonso can win tomorrow but the rules should revert to the previous rules and the attempt at race fixing by the FIA should end.

Vettel did say he changed gear on the revlimiter, if I heard him correctly when he talked to Massa at the weigh station. Add to that the drizzle which meant the track got worse instead of better and he aborted his last run and there you have a potentially bigger gap than one tenth.

I’m sorry but I have to say “I told you so”.
FIA you are pathetic! I said it would be impossible to fairly control the OTEBD half way through a season…
Well done for spoiling what should have been a special race!

As for Redbull losing their edge, I can only say you’re clutching at straws Keith. Considering the conditions I am surprised to see you write such a thing. Ferrari have been closing the gap on their single lap pace for a while now and the limited time of clean running during qualifying is hardly a gauge.